"Did you feel that?" These were not words. Words, spoken ones at least, were useless in deep vacuum. These beings had more subtle means of 'talking'.
How could I not have felt that? Neutronium thought to herself, in the compartmentalized private part of her mind. She responded "I did feel that, Spin. i wasn't paying attention, though. Can you pinpoint its origin." Whatever they just felt, it pulled Oneiroman right out of a dream. Few things can do that. He floated,uneasy. His hand cupped around his chin. The dream powered meta was silent, he felt something he hadn't felt in a lifetime. Fear? Exhilaration?
"I think I can Nute. Like trajectories and rifle reports, no?" Spinstate was arguably the most human and maybe the most powerful of the three. Formerly a young meta from Earth called Qid Quark, he had the ability to observe quantum particles without affecting them as an observer. Where are you? Where did you come from? The pulse they felt was not unlike the psychic paroxysm unleashed by a metahuman upon their power's dawning. This was different, though. It was much more than just another meta. The three of them would not admit it to one another, but all of them were unnerved by the pulse.
Neutronium zoned out again, back to the private world of her pulsar heart. This was here real life. In a cushioned pupa of maximum gravity. My world, my time.
"This, you won't believe" Oneiroman already knew, but still he did not believe. " It came from Earth." The man of dreams was visibly stirred "Which one?" he asked Spinstate, though he knew the answer already too. It came from our earth
"It came from our Earth." The three converged from the dozens of light years away they were from each other. They had not physically been together in a while. Appearances changed.
Spinstate wore a cobalt suit with a white circle over his heart. His hair was longer, almost shaggy. he was unshaven. For a man who could cleave the electrons off of atoms, he did not shave often.
Neutronium had forsaken human appearance for something else. She was like a polished platinum statue. A careful exercise in self- control kept the gravity of her stellar heart from killing her comrades.
Oneiroman-who never liked his name and usually went by 'O'. Was entirely non-humanoid. Apparently he had fallen back to sleep, hatching this proxy self through the veil as it were. He never considered that his friends found this rude. The thing was a ovoid lump of iron as big as a man's torso. Around its thickest point it had several circular slots. At the narrow top was an obsidian black 'eye'. The shell of the egg became a wrinkle of skin around the oil black eye.it even blinked. Below that, was a small cricle of steel mesh. A microphone? O must be working out something complex and many layered to send from Dreamplace such a poorly formed, utilitarian proxy.
"What should we do? Ideas?" Spinstate shurgged as he asked his comrades for their opinions on what could be the birth of a being on their order. neutronium just hovered with her arms crossed. Spinstates own face warped and reflected in her platinum tricep. he stared at here for a good long while and thought Apart from myself, this is the most human thing I've looked at in years.
Oneiro, who was attuned to the emotional and intellectual frequencies of his associates in ways beyond plain telepathy, sensed the longing in Spinstate, and their course of action became clear. The proxy spoke: "We go home. Now."
Spin just closed his eyes. How does he think of everything? Neutronium shook her chrome head gently. "No. I've no interest in returning to Earth." This was not a suprising opinion. The others had long suspected that Nute left something painful back home. What they didn't understand was that in addition to this, her pulsar heart felt and aversion to any large singularity. It posed no threat to a creature of will like her, but the rival gravity provoked an instinctual bristling. nute even avoided other planets, opting to stay in orbit while the other two descended.
"Then don't come with us." O's directness often uneased the others. Spinstate saw the arguement coming. Nute and the man of dreams clashed about everything. presently the dream proxy folded in onitself. fast as thought Oneiro was there. A man, incongruously pale and dark haired. he whore poorly defined black clothing and his hair was closely cropped. Gunmetal eyes that could unnerve Jovian worlds regarded Spin and Nute.
"You would do this, O?" Spinstate remembered once they agreed to never consciously decide to split up. But there was years between then and now. The dynamic of their relationships had changed.
Nute , a little offended, spoke now, the others detected a flux in the local gravity, which was dilute. "I will not countenance a return to Earth. I will follow you two the Sol system, where I will tarry in Pluto's orbit. Pluto was a small thing and did not rile the gravity aversion in Neutronium's very being.
Spinstate nodded, accepting the situation. They could not expect much more from Nute. "Okay. is there anything you guys need to do before we set out?" The both assured him there wasn't. "How long do you think it'll take us to get home, O?" Spinstate smiled inside. Ask a being like Oneiroman for a 'guess' and you'll get a very precise, calculated answer. "Fourteen days, six hours and twenty-one minutes." No doubt he knows down to the picosecond, thought Spin. You would figure a being that derives his power from dreams wouldn't be so logic bound. But there was code and equations under every seemingly magic thing Oneiroman could do. Spin caught himself when he noticed O was casually staring at him. He long suspected he had more telepathic ability than he let on.
The three joined hands in a circle. They had a tried and true method for interstellar travel. A way to cut their traveling time exponentially. Oneiroman folded into himself, and took Neutronium and Spinstate with him, into Dreamplace.
the now, stood on a grassy knoll, which looked down on a large copse with a path leading into it. Nute and Spin looked at Oneiro quizzically. "I love nature walks." said the man of dreams, and the three enterd the woods.
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